Markets and High Streets
Apr 26, 2011 13:59:24 GMT
Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2011 13:59:24 GMT
Each Monday and Thursday a market is held in the High Street in town. When I was a kid there was no such thing. The High street used to have cars running through it and shopping was a hassle, a bit different nowadays. Some years back this main shopping street had the tarmac replaced with cobbled stones and paved slates. The traffic was diverted and a more relaxed way to shop came to be. As there are no malls in town, each shop has to be entered and exited separately, this can be quite a nuisance if the weather is bad.
Apart from these two days, the rest are kind of quiet. Most of the bigger stores (Walworths. Littlewoods etc) have moved out to bigger, more prosperous towns. Some premises lie empty. There are an assortment of second hand stores in town now, where bargains are waiting.
Since I was here last, about six years ago, many things have changed. When I first came to this town I was eight years old, it was a very 'white' town. In fact we were the second Indian family to move here. It's unrecognizable from those days now. The last 5 to 10 years have seen many different kinds nationalities come to live here. As I walk down the street I cannot even make out some of the languages. I know many Eastern Europeans have come over, but also have quite a few people from African countries. Add to that people wanting to move out of London, who have decided to make this area their home also.
Anyway, just to give you an idea of what Market day is all about, here are a few photos:
The High Street:
The English version of the 'Sham Wow!' guy. This one was good at what he did, he got quite a few costumers:
I had to stop myself from saying 'dollars' when I shopped. I slipped a few times, but soon enough I was into the pounds and pennies like the rest of them! The best way I can describe the merchandise at this market place is by saying it was 'cheep and cheerful'. I knew that most the things on sale were not made to last. In fact I'm sure some were defective to begin with. I found the fruit and vegetable to be a good deal though. Much cheaper then in the supermarkets. I was surprised to see bread and pastries on sale that were not even covered up, or covered up haphazardly, they did look good though, although I didn't buy any:
Some the toys were not safe for young kids. You have check carefully that there are no sharp bits or too small bits that little kids and chew off or swallow:
Seedless grapes anyone?
I found this guy fascinating, his pitch at selling meat was really good. I made a few short movies of certain things while I was in the UK. This guy and his selling techniques was one of them. I'll download and put these up at a later date. The English accent was forever intriguing to me. The accent in this part of Kent is not quite as pronounced as a true 'cockney' accent, but not anywhere as posh sounding as where Spingdrift lives. I loved listening to all the different kinds of English accents while I was there.
Another view of the High Street:
Apart from these two days, the rest are kind of quiet. Most of the bigger stores (Walworths. Littlewoods etc) have moved out to bigger, more prosperous towns. Some premises lie empty. There are an assortment of second hand stores in town now, where bargains are waiting.
Since I was here last, about six years ago, many things have changed. When I first came to this town I was eight years old, it was a very 'white' town. In fact we were the second Indian family to move here. It's unrecognizable from those days now. The last 5 to 10 years have seen many different kinds nationalities come to live here. As I walk down the street I cannot even make out some of the languages. I know many Eastern Europeans have come over, but also have quite a few people from African countries. Add to that people wanting to move out of London, who have decided to make this area their home also.
Anyway, just to give you an idea of what Market day is all about, here are a few photos:
The High Street:
The English version of the 'Sham Wow!' guy. This one was good at what he did, he got quite a few costumers:
I had to stop myself from saying 'dollars' when I shopped. I slipped a few times, but soon enough I was into the pounds and pennies like the rest of them! The best way I can describe the merchandise at this market place is by saying it was 'cheep and cheerful'. I knew that most the things on sale were not made to last. In fact I'm sure some were defective to begin with. I found the fruit and vegetable to be a good deal though. Much cheaper then in the supermarkets. I was surprised to see bread and pastries on sale that were not even covered up, or covered up haphazardly, they did look good though, although I didn't buy any:
Some the toys were not safe for young kids. You have check carefully that there are no sharp bits or too small bits that little kids and chew off or swallow:
Seedless grapes anyone?
I found this guy fascinating, his pitch at selling meat was really good. I made a few short movies of certain things while I was in the UK. This guy and his selling techniques was one of them. I'll download and put these up at a later date. The English accent was forever intriguing to me. The accent in this part of Kent is not quite as pronounced as a true 'cockney' accent, but not anywhere as posh sounding as where Spingdrift lives. I loved listening to all the different kinds of English accents while I was there.
Another view of the High Street: